January 17, 2010

Ricky Gervais presides over low-key Golden Globes

Whether they were sitting in the Beverly Hilton ballroom or watching NBC's telecast at home, audience members watching Sunday's Golden Globes might have had the same reaction that viewers of the MTV Video Music Awards had a couple of years ago: Who got this British guy to be the host?

When Russell Brand hosted the MTV awards in 2008, he got a frosty reception from the celebrities in attendance, who either didn't like his accent and his Jonas Brothers jokes or simply had no idea who he was.

Ricky Gervais didn't get quite the same chilly reaction at the Golden Globes: he's well-known to the Hollywood community and his more artful zingers tended to land. All in all, however, he didn't make much of an impression as host, except when he was biting the hands of those who'd invited him to play ringmaster at the somewhat subdued ceremony.

Gervais always slayed the crowd in past awards-show appearances, when he'd slyly puncture egos and defy the expectations of how a presenter was supposed to act at these gatherings. But those earlier appearances may have been effective because they weren't that lengthy. He could do a few minutes' worth of wry, deadpan comedy and then leave.

As the Globes host, Gervais found it more difficult to strike the right tone. His jokes about Colin Farrell's reputation as a hellraiser and about the plastic surgery on display in the room felt as though they'd be written by a somewhat uninspired committee.

Still, he had his moments. At a couple of different points, he shilled for DVDs, including a boxed set of the original British version of "The Office," which he created and starred in.

"One thing that can't be bought is a Golden Globe," Gevais said. "Officially."

Gervais chortled with glee at his insouciance (and he didn't need to explain the joke to the crowd, who were familiar with the lavish campaigning that surrounds the Globes ever year). He noted that he wouldn't be hosting again anyway, so who cared if he made pointed jokes?

The jokes only went so far, however. He barely acknowledged the elephant in the room -- the implosion of the NBC network and the late-night war that has riveted the creative community for the past couple of weeks. He made one tepid joke early on about having to do a good job or NBC would replace him with Jay Leno. That was one of the few mentions of the high-profile problems afflicting the network broadcasting the Globes.

That was odd. Of course, the network likely didn't want Gervais making jokes at its expense. But given that Conan O'Brien, "Saturday Night Live's" Seth Meyers on Saturday and just about everyone else in late-night TV is taking shots at NBC these days, it felt odd for someone as gleefully irreverent as Gervais to almost ignore the situation.

As a host, the least smart thing to do is to rip on someone the crowd loves -- and who is sitting in their midst. Gervais made a joke about flying to L.A. on the same plane as Sir Paul McCartney, with Gervais in first class and McCartney pinching pennies by flying coach.

"He spent an awful lot of money last year," Gervais said, referring to McCartney's divorce. The music legend's face tightened momentarily and a "boo" rippled through the room.

Some of those needled by Gervais, who sipped a beer during the second half of the ceremony, were good sports about it. "I've had a couple, I'm not going to lie to you," he said. "I like a drink as much as the next man, unless the next man is Mel Gibson."

Gibson came out to present the next award, a self-deprecating smile on his face.

All in all, however, the event was more restrained and sedate than past Golden Globes ceremonies, and that low-key vibe felt appropriate. Several presenters and winners spoke about the recent tragedy in Haiti and Meryl Streep, who won a best comedy actress trophy for "Julie and Julia," mentioned how it was hard to put on her movie-star persona and go to the glitzy event.

"That's when I hear my mother's voice say, 'Shoot some money to [Haitian charity] Partners in Health, put on the dress, put on a smile and be damned grateful you have the dollars to help.... I am really grateful," Streep said.

The speeches were generally sweet and earnest, especially the enthusiastic acceptance speech of Drew Barrymore, who won for her role in HBO's "Grey Gardens." She thanked the directed of the TV movie repeatedly for taking a chance on her.

James Cameron, who won the best director award for "Avatar," first said he'd be brief because he really had to pee. Then he said he'd expected Kathryn Bigelow, Cameron's ex-wife and a fellow director nominee for "The Hurt Locker," to win. He finally thanked all the artists who contributed to the film and expressed his gratitude to the film's actors by saluting them in the Na'vi language.

Ryan Murphy's acceptance speech for "Glee," which won best TV comedy, was short and sweet, and with the show's entire cast behind him, he finished it off with this sentence: "This is for anybody and everybody who got a wedgie in high school."

Julianna Margulies, who won the best dramatic TV actress award for her leading role on "The Good Wife," made an indirect statement about the current turmoil at NBC when she thanked CBS executives Nina Tassler and Leslie Moonves for "believing in the 10 o'clock drama."

Viewers may have wondered why Michael C. Hall, who won a best actor award for "Dexter," was wearing a black knit cap. Hall has been undergoing treatment for cancer; he told the media earlier in the month that he expects to beat the disease and he did not refer to his health crisis in his speech.

The ceremony was not without levity, however, intentional and unintentional. Mickey Rourke seemed to be playing the role of a spaced-out cowboy as he presented the best actress in a drama award. And the irrepressible Robert Downey Jr. gave a hilarious speech in which he joked that, unlike other effusive winners, he didn't need to thank anyone.

"I'm certainly not going to thank Warner Brothers…. They needed me," he said as he accepted an award for his performance in "Sherlock Holmes." "'Avatar' was going to take us to the cleaners. Without me they didn't have a shot. What am I going to do, thank [producer] Joel Silver? The guy only restarted my career 12 times. I really don't want to thank my wife, because I could be busing tables at the Daily Grill right now if not for her."

The evening's low-key vibe was perhaps best personified by the laid-back Jeff Bridges, who won for his role in "Crazy Heart." "You're really screwing up my under-appreciated status here," he said to a standing ovation from his peers.

"We all have the best jobs in the world," summed up Cameron, whose "Avatar" won the best dramatic film award.

Comments

It seems the done thing to slag off awards show hosts regardless of their performance. Gervais was funny, pithy, irreverent and should be appreciated for not falling into the tired old 'variety' style of crappy hosting that pervades the industry.

In this case, I wish Jay Leno would have taken over the Golden Globes. I used to like Ricky Gervais - but there was not enough material. Who wrote the words? It was not Ricky Gervais. Let me guess - the NBC management could not pay good writers so the NBC management wrote the jokes.

Did Sam Zell fire all the copy editors? Yes, it's just a Hollywood piece and Bill Zweck had something up way ahead of you, but still. . . try a little proofreading. This is a legitimate, respected newspaper, not the high school paper.

Several presenters and winners spoke about the recent tragedy in Haiti and Meryl Streep, who won a best comedy actress trophy for "It's Complicated," mentioned how it was hard to put on her movie-star persona and go to the glitzy event.

I thought Ricky Gervais was hilarious ... some celebrities do need to be brought down to earth anyways. But he was joking, he is a comedian and that's what comedians do. Just imagine if George Carlin ever got the chance to host one of these things.
Avatar gets way too much credit. The storyline for that movie is complete [expletive]. I was pretty disappointed in the nominations this year. Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges winning were probably the only two who were worthy. But it always seems like the people truly worthy of these awards are never nominated. And how did Stanley Tucci get beat out?
Ricky Gervias was great and anyone who hated him doesn't understand great comedy.
Also, Team COCO! Screw you NBC.

I don't think there was a script for Gervais. Based on interviews leading up to the awards, Gervais didn't want to go off of a script. He had some material lined up, but he wanted the flexibility to riff and be relaxed like the Rat Pack during a roast, or something like that.

This preview from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mentions Gervais's game plan:
Ricky Gervais likens hosting the Golden Globes to going to a fun fete
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10017/1028358-67.stm

I generally liked Gervais at the helm, but less is definitely more. I thought he was drinking throughout the ceremony, at least I thought I noticed it early on.

I like Ricky Gervais no matter what! The Paul Mc Cartney joke was funny, and it was weird the way Mc Cartney bristled at he did. The late Johnny Carson was always a good sport about jokes referring to how much money he had to pay ex-wives. Sir Paul, though I love him too, needed to be a better sport.

The most (pleasantly) shocking moment of the evening: Still wish a fraction of the painstaking care and ingenuity lavished on Avatar's FX had been expended on the story, but it was almost worth a totally undeserved Best Drama Globe to see James Cameron being surprisingly gracious and sweet towards his ex-wife.

too many druggie's and hair color. also lots of old guys with very young women...go figure. just wacktors and wachtresses from the land of fruit and nuts. let's have another awards show to let the world know how great we are. in reality just a ploy to get them larger fees for their next project..next?

Sandra Bullock is way too old to still be playing these cutesy roles that are for women in their 20's. She's not even good looking. The same with Cameron Diaz. They need to get roles for people their own age. Let the younger actresses do the cutesy roles.

I wouldn't call it sweet and enthusiastic. More like dumb and babbling. Barrymore is the epitome of a drama queen. She locked herself away for 3 months before making "grey gardens" and made a big deal of it. ("learn how to act," I'm thinking.) Then last night's goofball, rambling speech. Ugh. Can we please just stop seeing her?

I think Gervais is getting unfairly beat up by the reviewers. He wasn't over the top, he wasn't too undertoned, and his zingers were pretty solid. The whole night was a little toned down, be it because of Haiti, the economy, or the rain, and there is nothing wrong with that. Had it been over the top, we'd be complaining, too. I appreciate the Globes because they don't have all of the made-up, poorly written schtick for the presenters that the Oscars have.

I did think it was interesting to see who got music during their speeches and who didn't. And could have sworn I heard some boos when one of the winners started getting played off too early.

Come on, it wasn't the Ricky Gervais Stand-up Show, was it? He was a great host, he kept it moving, and he had the Hollywood audience doubled over with shock and laughter at each opportunity (and I've seen their lukewarm reception to some past hosts--they all seemed to have a good time). Did I want to see him go full out? Of course, but that just wasn't the venue.

I thought Ricky Gervais was brilliant last night. Ok, you could argue that on some occasions he was biting the hand that fed him but at the same time, it was refreshing to hear a host having a dig at the self-absorbed and over-inflated ego's that filled the room. So what if he ignored the elephant in the room (NBC) that was going to be too obvious...and the joke about Mel Gibson? Priceless....

I thought Gervais was too low key.
And I really doubt that McCartney was really mad about the divorce joke. He gets ripped regularly in the NY tabs because his girlfriend is on the MTA board there & rarely shows up for the meetings.
I was disappointed because there weren't enough jokes tearing down NBC!

It's beyond out-of-touch to suggest that simply because in our hermetically sealed world of SUVs and MTV reality shows we might perhaps be unfamiliar with 'this British guy'. Our ignorance by no means makes him an unknown.

He is funny (although intelligently so, which should shed some light onto why he's unappreciated here), pithy, low-key and, with the exception of a short stop in the world of potty humour (which we up-tight Americans have such a hard time confronting), it was one of the easiest, laugh-worthy awards ceremonies to watch. In fact, I stopped watched awards ceremonies years ago, because the scripted, obvious, slap-stick humor that's taken over in recent decades became simply unbearable. And the Golden Globes was actually more enjoyable with a host (as, yes, it's usually sans host), specifically the ad-libbing Gervais and not someone who's clearly reading off the tele-prompter.

Furthermore, I think you'll find that Gervais did, indeed, address the so-called elephant in the room (twice) but did so with nuance. Why flog a horse to death that's already been laid to rest by Leno and O'Brien?

The tone was justifiably subdued and that was, in part, due to Gervais's subdued form of insouciant humor.

Thank god there's someone out there willing to poke fun at the Hollywood institution. The self-congratulation (and before you say it, yes, Gervais does it, but as part of his shtick, not in earnest) that usually abounds is tiresome.

I noticed that that it appeared to be undertone of occupied minds that weren't on the Globes. The rain, Haiti, etc., seemed to have some effect.
I thought Gervais was funny but he seemed a bit muted too. His introduction of Gibson was hilarious. I expected more zingers from Gervais. I still think he is a very funny man.
Jeff Bridges, always a class act, was very gracious and humble.
RDJ was a riot.
I have to admit i got a bit choked up when Michael C. Hall's name was announced. I thought it quite poetic that (with the earlier announcement of his illness) he took the award.

MLT, thanks so much for your opinion! Please let me know what else I need to do. Since you don't know anything about me, your thoughts are very important to me. FYI, I was not speaking about The Blind Side, but about Sandra Bullock's lack of acting ability.

No interest in watching an Awards show hosted by a British stand-up.....poor choice all round....I do not understand the obsession with the Brits and Australians on American television. essentially taking jobs away from actors in the States, but yet our Unions do not even blink .....we are not even allowed to work in either of those countries unless we have a tightly controlled work visa.....

As far as I am concerned, check out the winners online the next day & see all you need to see.

I thought he was on form. i watched the highlights with just the Gervais parts today- probably the best bit of the whole show. It's also nice to see so many Americans defending him in the comments sections on these forums. We Brits can be very snobby about out humour, and say Americans don't 'get' it. It's simply not true.

I thought Gervais was brilliant. You never knew what he was going to say next--he's a little dangerous, which is such a breath of fresh air compared to the usual scripted patter that is doled out to the host and presenters. The thing that I thought was weird was all of the disfigured faces (bad plastic surgery). It was really very sad--there was a lot of desperation on those grotesque faces.

Gervais got off a few zingers, but never thought he was funny anyhow. But another poster brought up something that makes me bristle. I thought I was watching the Australian Golden Globes. Seriously, is ANY actor American anymore, besides the oldtimers? What, have our acting/film schools such as USC, UCLA or NYU forgotten how to churn out american actors? I am so sick of this "foreign fascination" we have. If they are foreign, they MUST be more exotic, or smarter, or more talented, etc. etc. It has penetrated the reality & game shows as well as the movies.

Ricky Gervais is a brilliant comedian. I think he was a great host. He kept things going and was very,very funny. Too bad so many actors who were there are not as quick a wit as as he, or, perhaps they just don't "get" him. Many had bored looks on their faces when the camera paned the crowd. On another note, who looked the best in her dress? I have to say, I think it was Ncole Kidman. She is totally smashing.. How could Tom Cruise let HER go?! Or, was she the smart one to ditch him?!

Hey, Ricky was fine, and the 2010 Globes telecast was very good, overall, too. The show moved along well and held my attention throughout.

Beating up on awards show hosts and on awards show telecasts is a time-honored tradition for critics and half the audience, but they gripe because they care. If they didn't care at all, they'd fall asleep or change the channel.

Gervais was his usual self.
Paul McCartney is well known in England as having no sense of humour, so he wouldn't enjoy the joke at his expense. However he's not as bad as the bee gees, they walked off a show in England when the host made fun of them.

I suppose that the entertainment industry is that shallow, as are many of the people that gush over vapid yet arrogant celebrities, many of whom cannot velcro their shoes without help from sycophantic parasites that are even more useless.

MY GOD, ARE YOU SERIOUS? Rickt Gervais was a joy every time he came on. The only problem was he didn't appear often enough. By contrast, take the 2010 simply pathetic Screen Actors Guild Awards. In former years it was an awards show to be taken seriously. This years shoddy affair - with some strange categories = was hosted by the very unfunny Kristen Chenowith who must have been high unless she is a total airhead. Just contrast her with Ricky Gervais and it's even more apparent how excellent he was.

Ah yes, the tsunami of foreigners who are stealing all the American's Golden Globes: Toni Colette (I don't much like United States of Tara but her performance is excellent) and Christoph Waltz (even critics who hated Inglorious Basterds seemed to single out his performance). Oh, and foreigners win the Best Foreign Film category by default.

I've got a suggestion for you and R. Reed. Hugh Laurie didn't just get waved through customs at LAX and waltz straight onto the set of a hit show. They built up over many years impressive resumes of film, television and theatre work. They developed contacts and went to the same cattle calls as everyone else -- and won the part.

R. Reed does have a point though: Zoe Saldana did have to get a work permit when she came down to New Zealand for Avatar's "location" shoot. Just as her Star Trek co-star Karl Urban has done every time he works in the US or Australia. Hundreds, if not thousands, of American actors, directors and technical crews work outside the United States every year. They have to meet immigration requirements. Get over it.

I thought Ricky Gervais did a great job and I didn't notice any boo-ing by the crowd. I usually agree with most of what you write but I think you are totally off-base here. I thought the crowd loved him and those that didn't are probably just too old or too uptight or too full of themselves to get it. Bravo Ricky Gervais!!

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